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WASHINGTON, April 13 (JTA) — A Jewish attorney on forced leave from the CIA has decided to file a lawsuit which claims that rampant anti-Semitism at the spy agency has destroyed his career. Armed with memos from top CIA brass and similar horror stories from other Jewish government officials, Adam Ciralsky is suing for unspecified…

WASHINGTON, April 13 (JTA) — For decades U.S. foreign aid was a legislative pariah with many more opponents than supporters. Many members of Congress only heard calls for support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby. A lot has changed in the late 1990s. This week an unprecedented coalition of American businesses,…

WASHINGTON, March 29 (JTA) — Budget proposals speeding their way through Congress could endanger U.S. aid to Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians. That’s the charge from many in the Jewish community, which represents the loudest U.S. supporters of foreign aid. A $1.74 trillion House budget resolution approved last week would cut foreign affairs spending,…

WASHINGTON, March 29 (JTA) — In the murky world of Middle Eastern terrorism, at least two things are certain: Palestinian terrorists have killed 12 American citizens since the 1993 Oslo accords were signed and the United States has not extradited any suspects connected with the attacks. An attempt to find out why the United States…

WASHINGTON, March 25 (JTA) — Uzbekistan has officially accredited a center run by the Lubavitch movement and has ended a visa crisis for the Chasidic group’s local rabbi. Following a meeting here last week between Lubavitch officials and the Uzbek foreign minister, Abdulaziz Kamilov, Rabbi Abba David Gurevitch received a full one-year visa. Gurevitch, who…

WASHINGTON, March 25 (JTA) — The U.S. House of Representatives has failed to pass a measure condemning “all those who practice or promote racism, anti-Semitism, ethnic prejudice or religious intolerance.” A partisan political dispute derailed the resolution when House Democrats voted Tuesday against the bill after their Republican colleagues blocked a different measure that also…

WASHINGTON, March 23 (JTA) — Since the gates of the Soviet Union opened up a decade ago, more than 1,000 Jews have traveled halfway around the globe to settle in the shadow of Arizona”s desert. But now few Jews are coming, and the Tucson, Ariz., Jewish community has embarked on a radical experiment — opening…

WASHINGTON, March 23 (JTA) — The question of Palestinian statehood may have garnered most of the attention during Yasser Arafat”s visit here this week, but the battle over Jerusalem lurked just below the surface. For Arafat, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, the issues are linked — he wants a state with “Holy Jerusalem” as its…

WASHINGTON, March 23 (JTA) — There is no question that Jewish immigration to the United States has slowed dramatically in recent years. Jewish organizational officials expect between 5,000 and 7,000 Jews to arrive this year from the former Soviet Union, down from a record 47,000 only seven years ago. There are many reasons for this…

WASHINGTON, March 22 (JTA) — The delicate dance between Tehran and Washington could take a new turn if U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) gets his way. Specter has asked an Iranian Cabinet minister to take a message back to Iranian President Mohammed Khatami requesting a meeting with members of Congress. Members of Congress “sometimes have…